Carat announced its first forecast for worldwide advertising spend in 2016, together with an updated outlook for 2015 and actual figures for 2014.

The report -developed every March & September and based on data from 59 markets across the Americas, Asia Pacific and EMEA - highlights that all key markets are currently ring-fencing Digital media spending, even when faced with negative economic headwinds. The report also reveals overall positive regional growth in 2014.

KEY FORECASTS

-Digital media is outpacing Carat’s predictions from September 2014, with an expected US$17.1 billion increase in spend in 2015, a +15.7% year-on-year growth rate.

-Powered by a dramatic rise in Mobile spending globally (+50%) and Online video (+21.1%) in 2015, Digital will, for the first time, account for more than a quarter (25.9%) of all advertising spend in 2016.

-2015 advertising spend across all media will increase by US$23.8 billion to reach US$540 billion, a +4.6% year-on-year increase.

-Market optimism continues into 2016 with a year-on-year global advertising growth of +5.0%.

REGIONAL HIGHLIGHTS: OVERALL POSITIVE GROWTH IN 2014

In 2014 all regions reported positive growth, from Western Europe (+2.3%), North America (+4.5%), Asia Pacific (+5.3%) and Latin America (+11.4%). Regional confidence is predicted to continue in 2015 across all markets except Russia, due to a struggling advertising market and imposing recession.

DOMINATING THE MEDIA THE LANDSCAPE

-Digital is the star performer in terms of growth, achieving +17.4% year-on-year growth and reaching for 21.7% of market share in 2014.

-TV will continue to command the majority of market share (42.7% in 2014,) and is predicted to grow by more than +3% in 2015 and 2016. Decline in Print is expected to continue.

-Out-of-Home is the second fastest growth area, behind Digital, with a global market share of 7.1% in 2014. For the first time, Out-of-Home is predicted to outpace Magazines global ad share, which is expected to fall behind radio in 2016.